Draft Wine (Revocation and Consequential Provision) Regulations 2023

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2023 General Committees

[Mark Spencer]

We are really hopeful that it will be a significant positive and give flexibility to wine blenders here in the UK. It will also allow them to improve the quality of what they sell in UK markets and around the world. We very much hope that it will give the industry the freedom to be flexible and to respond to consumers’ changing tastes at the same time.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

Sussex is very proud of its wine industry, which is growing year by year. There is a huge amount to be proud of—

[Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne) (Con)]

Hear, hear!

[Jeremy Quin]

My hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne concurs from a sedentary position.

To pick up on the point made by the hon. Member for Easington, the growth of the wine industry brings benefits not only to the industry itself but to tourism. I very much welcome these proposals, and we see a lot of potential in Sussex for us to grow not only the industry itself but, more broadly, its positive impact on tourism.

[Mark Spencer]

My right hon. Friend is a great advocate and consumer of wine. He will be aware that Sussex is quite unique: it has its own geographical indicator and protections for its English wine and its English sparkling wine. I am grateful for his support and that of his constituents.

[Jeremy Quin]

I thank my right hon. Friend for what I believe is a compliment.

[Mark Spencer]

To get back to the matters at hand, the majority of these reforms will apply only in England. However, the Welsh Government and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have agreed to pursue future reforms together, allowing the benefits to flow to the wine industry across both nations, and we continue to encourage Scotland to make similar reforms.

Together, these changes will liberalise the growing wine industry and address issues faced by our wine businesses. I hope I have said enough to assure members of the Committee of the need for this instrument. It is the first part of a broader package of reforms that will give our thriving wine and alcoholic drinks sectors greater flexibility and support in the future.

Livestock Worrying: Sussex

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Tuesday 17th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)]

When I was successful in securing this Adjournment debate on livestock worrying, I was questioned by some more metropolitan colleagues about what exactly livestock worrying is, with many references to sheep and Wales that I thought were rather unfair. I can inform the House and colleagues that livestock worrying usually involves dogs chasing and mauling sheep or other animals. The direct attack can cause death or severe injury and, in some cases, miscarriage. The stress of the event can cause great harm to the animals, particularly the young.

It is important to put on the record why I have secured the debate. Not only does Sussex have one of the highest rates of sheep worrying in the country, but my local authority, Brighton and Hove, has a municipal sheep flock, of which I believe the hon. Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield) is a shepherdess and lookerer. Telscombe, a village in my constituency, also has a municipal sheep flock. The business is not just in private hands but in public hands, private hands and all hands—it affects us all.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to hear—or perhaps he will not—that I am not standing up to make an impassioned call for the nationalisation of all sheep farming. I congratulate him on securing the debate and he raises an important point; there is more sheep worrying and livestock worrying in Sussex, where both his constituents and mine have the opportunity to walk into open countryside. There is more sheep worrying in Sussex in the average year than there is in the whole of Scotland, and that is not acceptable. I am glad that he secured the debate to raise the concerns of many of our farmers.

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle]

I entirely agree. It is also important to put on record the contribution made by farming, not only in Sussex but to our wider economy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Thursday 2nd March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

I think the hon. Gentleman will recognise that the UK market is incredibly valuable to all our fishing communities. It will continue to be very important. The Prime Minister has been very clear that no powers that are currently devolved will be, as he says, grabbed. They will continue to be devolved. What we are looking very carefully at is the best possible deal for all parts of the United Kingdom as we seek to negotiate Brexit.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

3. What recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of its support to British farmers in increasing their share of the domestic food market.

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)]

Mr Speaker, I apologise for being a little late. I was at the Gulfood exhibition in the Gulf and my plane was sadly stranded because of fog.

The Government want the UK to grow and sell more British food and drink. Through the introduction of a new plan for Government procurement, we have sought to enable Departments to source more local food, and recent successes include the Ministry of Justice implementing the plan in prisons. Last year, exports of food and drink increased by 9% to £20 billion.

[Jeremy Quin]

West Sussex is home to our finest food and drink, including the superb Sussex Charmer, produced by our exceptional Rudgwick cheesemakers. What further opportunities does the Minister foresee to promote high-quality, well-branded food of local provenance?

[Mr Speaker]

Very exciting!

--- Later in debate ---

[Dame Caroline Spelman]

Cathedral attendance is rising, in no small part because of the quality of the services that are offered. People enjoy going to cathedrals for exhibitions. The Church of England fully supports Chester’s ambition to hold a similarly significant exhibition. My understanding is that the funding for this is on a rolling programme, so I really encourage the cathedral to apply again, and of course we will provide our support.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

It is often new churches that are best configured for a variety of uses. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Richard Coldicott, the incumbent, and the congregation of St Mark’s, Holbrook, in my constituency, on its consecration last week as a brand-new parish church?

[Dame Caroline Spelman]

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the congregation of St Mark’s on having the vision to create a new church. In fact, the Church of England is opening as many new churches, typically in new developments, as it is closing old ones. Of course a new facility like that is a wonderful venue for the arts and for exhibitions such as those that we are discussing.

Air Quality

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

I said earlier that leaving the EU has nothing to do with improving air quality, and I stand by that.

May I clarify something that I said earlier? We have done the analysis on the scrappage schemes. Having just one particular kind of scheme where any diesel car can be replaced would not be the best use of taxpayers’ money because it is not a targeted intervention. I want to be smart about this and use taxpayers’ money effectively so that we can tackle this issue, not just have a comprehensive scrappage scheme which will not help as much.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

What role can the Government play in pushing the EU to improve the driving emissions test further?

[Dr Coffey]

I am not going to pretend I am the Department for Transport expert on this matter, but I know that we have been pushing for the last five years to get the real driving conditions actions updated. More is coming out next year, in 2017. We should be seeing action right across the EU, and I am looking forward to that. We will start to see whether those measures have really made a difference in 2019, because it will take a bit of time to bed in, but I can assure my hon. Friend that although we will be leaving the EU, we will continue to make sure that our air quality improves.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Tom Elliott (Fermanagh and South Tyrone) (UUP)]

5. What plans the Church of England has to engage with communities that are most in need; and if she will make a statement.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

7. What plans the Church of England has to engage with communities that are most in need; and if she will make a statement.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

Under the Church’s major renewal and reform programme, the whole basis on which the commissioners will disburse funding to dioceses will be weighted significantly towards resourcing the Church’s mission in the most deprived areas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Spelman]

I cannot speak for the Church of Ireland. Obviously, I am speaking from the experience of the Church of England, whose social action does indeed cover the most vulnerable people in our society. Right here, in the diocese of London, it is possible for Members of Parliament to see the work the Church of England does among the homeless. That is replicated in all the dioceses within the Church of England, and I imagine that the same happens in the hon. Gentleman’s own nation.

[Jeremy Quin]

May I draw my right hon. Friend’s attention to the work done by Horsham Matters in my constituency? Those local churches are working together to provide a winter homeless shelter and other help for the homeless, a food bank and furniture and white goods for those in crisis. They even provide places for apprenticeships—[Interruption.] I understand, Mr Speaker. They do a lot of good work. Is that not a fine example to share with the House?

[Mrs Spelman]

That is one of many examples of where the Church’s social action really makes a difference to the most vulnerable. In respect of the earlier question about the role of the local council, it is significant that Horsham council ran a social inclusion working group bringing together churches, charities, the citizens advice bureau and debt advice organisations to support and advise the most vulnerable.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

9. How many trees the Government plan to plant during this Parliament.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

12. How many trees the Government plan to plant during this Parliament.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

14. How many trees the Government plan to plant during this Parliament.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Ancient woodland is of huge historical value to our country. It also provides very important soil that we will never get back if we lose it, as well as a huge variety of trees, and we are committed to protecting it in the planning system.

[Jeremy Quin]

The Secretary of State will be pleased to hear I represent the most biodiverse constituency on earth given the presence within it of the millennium seed bank at Wakehurst Place. Will she join me in congratulating Wakehurst on the work being done on the UK national tree seed project, testing the resilience of our native species?

[Elizabeth Truss]

Wakehurst Place is a fantastic national asset and is part of the Kew group, which is the jewel in DEFRA’s crown. Not only do we have the millennium seed bank and the important work it provides; we also have the world’s largest database of plants, which we are now digitising so we can benefit everybody in society.